


Reincarnated as a Hot Prince and my Fiancée is a Sexy Villainess, but I'm Gay!

by MidlightSpring



Category: Original Work
Genre: Adventure, Comedy, Fantasy, Humor, Light Novel, Magic, Manga & Anime, Multi, Original Character(s), Psychological Drama, Romantic Comedy, Seinen, Slice of Life
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-07-16
Updated: 2020-07-31
Packaged: 2021-03-05 06:13:31
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 15
Words: 22,640
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25319605
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MidlightSpring/pseuds/MidlightSpring
Summary: Also known as "My Fiancée is a Sexy Villainess!"You would think that having the life of a hot prince from a famous otome game would be all fun and games, but there's one catch!I'm Gay!Join the hilarious yet psychologically questionable mind of Orla, the undeniably handsome prince, as he tries to support his unsettlingly sexy fiancée, the villainess of the otome game, to the happiness she truly deserves, while avoiding any bad end that fate sent him in! WHEW, WHAT A MESS!
Kudos: 6





	1. Part 1

Something was wrong...

Very wrong...

I immediately stood up from my bed. My four year old blanket was way too silky to be mine. I felt like the longer I touched it, the more likely that the cops were going to arrest me for breaking in.

SOMETHING WAS DEFINITELY WRONG!

Throwing this expensive blanket away from myself, I ran to the bathroom to figure out what was going on. I knew something went horribly wrong, but I didn't think the problem would be so... **_HOT!_ **

My curly blonde hair slowly fell off from my head as if a fountain of golden thread was shown so delicately sewn to the head of pale yet almost transparent skin. The blue crystal eyes were almost so mesmerizing that I almost wanted to jump into the arms of my beautiful self.

I decided to challenge this reflection by doing some convoluted poses similar to that one famous manga, but I discovered this beautiful figure was indeed me.

I wonder why this reflection looked so familiar? Wait! I know this person! This person is the-

"PRINCE! PRINCE! It's almost time for your meeting with the Duchess!" As the short servant ran towards me, he signaled to his small crew to help me prepare for the morning. I know that I'm too lazy to dress myself, but even this is too much!

After a few minutes of uncomfortable preparation, I found myself being pushed out the door and signaled from the short, yet rather young looking, servant to follow him as he loudly explained my schedule for today.

Since I didn't know what was going on, I decided to just follow this short scary servant to where I needed to go. I am so confused, yet too curious on what is happening....

The guards opened a large door to reveal a shower of sunlight forming a figure of a beautiful black haired woman. With a silhouette of an elegant goddess, I almost lost my breath to how beautiful this woman was and unconsciously bowed to her in order to not make eye contact with her.

"Oh Prince Orla! I've been looking for you!"

With my eyes still glued to the ground, I stated, "Y-yes, I apologize for my late appearance"

"Put your head up! I can't wait to see your handsome face!"

She gently grabbed my chin and slowly lifted my face. Making eye contact with such a beautiful goddess, it was even too much for me to handle. Being surrounded by these much shiny humans is too much for poor health! Thank you, Goddess of Beauty for this opportunity!

But if I seriously have any more intense events that I'm forced to face, then I think I'm gonna hit my limit of handling any more surprises.

"Please, Prince Orla, sit down and let me tell you what I'm planning for our wedding!"

_**"WEDDIN-ACK!"** _

Losing focus on my footing, I tripped over myself against the coffee table and knocked myself out.

Ugh, my head...

Back to this expensive bedroom again?

Umm, what just happened???

I should really figure out what just happened "here".

I would say that this is a dream, but after slamming my perfect face against that coffee table, it's kind of hard to deny that pain to be fake.

Now that I think about it. Aren't I a little too calm about all this? This is all clearly a little too weird. Didn't I just wake up in the body of that hot prince character from the really popular otome game, "The Royal Truth"?

Back in my original world, I was a normal 23 year old otaku man who loved otome dating sim games, especially the ones that focused on fantasy romance. I did have a small group of friends who would discuss with me on any latest games and I finally was able to get my hands on one of the most recent ones, "The Royal Truth".

Playing for four months straight while looking for a job, I was finally almost finished with the game. But I guess, I wasn't thinking straight after pulling that all nighter four days in a row, because on my way to my job interview, I saw a truck coming hurling towards a young man and then I...

I guess I must have reincarnated into this world. And what luck! To be reborn as such a hot character!

The sexy prince character or Orla is one of the character routes that is introduced in the game and the most popular among mainstream fans. Orla is a greatly respected figure in his kingdom, but under all his exterior beauty, he was a sadistic and pompous character. As the main heroine, you would essentially break through his shell and attract him through your rebellious and bold statement, since "he was never treated that way from anyone else in his life".

Man, he was really sheltered and such a boring trope. While he was one of my least favorite, he did have a childhood that was quite similar to mine, so I guess I related to him the most?

Wait, if I'm Prince Orla, then that means that beautiful goddess is no other than the villainess of "The Royal Truth", Duchess Arabella or the Beauty of the Night!

With her shiny long black hair, her black eyes glistened quietly like the stars of the sky, but her beauty was eventually outshined from the main heroine. Arabella's jealousy eventually turned her rotten to the core and it would eventually push her to harass the main heroine, no matter what route the heroine was on.

If you take Orla's route and are successfully able to gain Orla's heart, Orla would call off his engagement with Arabella and she would be banished from the kingdom to live alone in a small farming facility that her family owned. If you got the bad ending, Orla would have accidentally killed Arabella to protect you and he would run away with you, disappearing from the kingdom forever.

Strangely enough, I never understood Orla's choice, since I personally sided with Arabella. He was so irresponsible to just break an engagement like that and run away from his duties as the prince. Hey, I would even be mad if my fiancé was stolen by some bit-

_**OH SHOOT!** _

Arabella is my fiancée! This is bad! This is REALLY bad! If I was like any other men, I would technically be considered the luckiest man in this world and my previous world. With all my power, an automatically ripped body, and highly respected status, what would my problem be? Well it's the fact that Arabella is my fiancée or rather _**I...AM...GAY!**_


	2. Part 2

Writing down all my knowledge of "The Royal Truth" into my new velvet covered journal, I slowly gained new information that came with this ripped body.

I remembered that Arabella was one of my closest childhood friends and we apparently got engaged only recently. I decided to propose to her, realizing that I was soon to come of age for the crown and needed to get married to keep up with my reputation as the upcoming king.

Orla must have a sick mind to propose to Arabella and immediately throw away such a close friend for the sake of a random girl in his life. Arabella literally did everything for Orla, but all he did was care about his reputation. In fact, I bet he knew that she cares so much about Orla that she would do almost anything, even to the point of almost doing the unredeemable.

_**Poor Arabella! I stan for Arabella!** _

But I can't marry her! No matter what! Maybe if I was straight, I might, but I can never see myself in love with a woman or even marrying one!

Maybe I can just marry her and pretend to see her as my spouse?... _**NOOOOO!**_

I can't just use her like that! I'm sorry Arabella, but I promise I will continue to be your number one fan!

Now to get out of this engagement...

"PRINCE ORLA!"

Arabella rushed elegantly into my bedroom and tried to speak to me through every pant she made.

"Oh, Prince Orla, you scared me! I thought you were horribly injured! I wouldn't know what I would do if you got a permanent injury right before our marriage day!"

Unconsciously flinching back, I knew that was the wrong move as I saw Arabella just get more worried.

"Umm, darling Arabella, I actually have something I want to say. As much as it hurts me to say this, but I don't think I can do this."

"Prince Orla, you can't already be nervous! We've been planning for months for this moment and I want it to be perfect!"

"But Arabella-"

"You know, Orla, ever since we were little, I dreamt about this day. I was truly in love with you when I first met you and I knew we were fated to be together. I don't know how, but I knew that we were meant to be married. The fact that you want to share this dream with me, just makes all of those painful years of waiting all the more worth it. I'm so glad I fell in love with you."

_**OH NOOOOOO** _

"Orla? Are you okay, honey?"

"I-I'm fine. Something just got caught in my eye."

"Both of your eyes at the same time?"

"Yeah, you know these darn allergies. When it hits hard, it really hits hard."

"Umm, I don't quite understand what you are saying, but here you can borrow my handkerchief."

_**WHY ARE YOU SO PERFECT, ARABELLA?!** _

"Anyway, what was it that you wanted to say?"

"I just... I just wanted to say what color do you want the tablecloth? Because we have to remember what season we're planning the wedding!"

After an hour of contemplating about which flowers should be used for the wedding arch, Arabella decided to part with me and planned to meet me in three days.

I sighed heavily as I walked into my bedroom and then sank deeply into my work chair. While contemplating about how fun it was to plan the wedding, I realized that I got swept up in my emotion for Arabella and ended up helping Arabella plan _**MY WEDDING!**_

Okay, I have about one and a half months until the wedding is set to date and I have to figure out a way to get out of this situation. _**THINK, THINK!**_

In the small dark space of my puny brain, a council of Orla's were bickering about the state of the situation we were in.

A Orla with a deep dark circle under his eyes interrupted the argument by screaming, " _WE'RE ALL DOOMED!_ "

Another Orla with a fiery glimmer in his eyes and a little fire on his head that grew with every moment of passion, grabbed the dark Orla and shook him out of his crying episode.

"Don't panic, my friend! We will get through this! I believe we can do anything as long as we have, _PASSION!_ "

Dark Orla in turn grabbed Passion Orla and looked at him straight in the eyes.

"There's no way out of this! Even if we do cut the engagement, what's going to happen to our status? We're supposed to marry someone to have a secure line to the position as king, because if we have a son, then our pass to kingship is sealed. But if we won't even marry a woman, how the hell are we supposed to find the next heir? And I don't want kids! I'm too young for that! Also, Arabella's family is the second most powerful family in the kingdom, if we suddenly broke her heart without any reason to do so, wouldn't we be placed under blame for the marriage and lose our reputation among the citizens even more?"

All the Orla's started nodding and mumbling among each other.

The spark on Fire Orla's head shrank and he sat back down. An Orla with a floral crown raised his hand and then stood up from the council table when all the Orla's turned their attention to him.

"Hey guys, don't you find it weird that we're questioning our status? This isn't really like us or rather this is more like what Orla would do. The longer we've been here, the more it seems that our memories have been starting to mix with Orla. So, we shouldn't let that really get to us. It's even worrying that we don't even remember what we looked like back then-"

An Orla with two glow sticks wedged on each side of his headband slammed the desk interrupting Flower Orla's speech.

"No! Never mind that. We have to remember who the real victim of all this is! Our goddess, Arabella! No matter what we must vow to ourselves that she deserved all the happiness in the world after what she's been through and we are the key to her happiness! We must give her the best ending that she deserves!"

All the Orla's cheered in unison and starting chanting, "Ara! Bella! Ara! Bella! Ara! Bella!"

The Orla with glasses slammed his gavel onto the desk and all the Orla settled down back into their seat.

"As the main five Orla's, I guess we all came into terms of what our goal will be in this life. But I realized that maybe, we just don't need her to be in love with us. What if we were able to get her to fall in love with a more complex and better character than Orla? With the power of all my knowledge, the easiest character route that I can remember is him!"

As the banner of this character open behind Glasses Orla, all the Orla's starting cheering, "Ara! Bella! Ara! Bella!"


	3. Part 3

Drawing my carriage up to a mansion with a size almost comparable to my own castle, I became a bit nervous to approach this character. A garden in the front filled with perfectly shaped living sculptures of various animals, but the most treasured sculpture stands in the fountain as the white marbled horse with a fishtail holding its head high into the sky.

The horse with the fishtail is the crescent of the Florian family known for their five generations of expertise in herbal medicine and botany engineering. Due to their eventual increase in value and wealth, they eventually began their business investment, real estate, and magical technology. Their incredible luck and ability to navigate their business has now earned them the title of the richest family of all the land.

While in "The Royal Truth", all I knew is that botany engineering and magical herbal ingredients was what brought them to their riches, these games never really go into the details of their business tactics and history as much. After deciding to research more about the history of this world and planning for "Operation Arabella's Happiness", I realized this world was so much more real than I expected. All the small details I never thought were important, are all here in these history books. The revolution and laws that slowly shaped this world to how it formed, leading up to this one moment of my reincarnation. To be honest, moments like these kind of make me kind of homesick...

Anyway, I should be back at my castle catching up on my duties as a prince, but I decided that I should meet with him at least once, because I need to make sure that if I'm going to cancel this wedding, Arabella will also be able to get a happy ending! So, this is my chance to make her truly happy! Also, I am REALLY curious on what the other characters are like!

Slowly walking out of the carriage, all the servants were lined up bowing next to a beautifully laid out red carpet.

I'll never get sick of this.

As I was walking towards the mansion, I felt so many eyes staring at me whether they were filled with admiration or jealousy. Women whispering with delight of my presence and men grumbling with anger of all the attention I took. Either way, I was feeling the attention and loved how untouchable I was. I kind of understand why so many fans love self-insert overpowered characters.

At the door of the beautifully emblemed door, two guards pushed open the door for me and led me to a grand staircase. Everything simmering from the reflection to the marbled floor to the crystallized chandelier that stood over this massive room.

_Geez talk about extra._

"Ahh, you're finally here, Prince Orla."

A man of slightly tall stature with an expensive tailored olive green suit walked down slowly from the staircase. Every step he took made his moss green hair float up and down as if hovering in the air and his glare from his emerald snake like eyes immediately grabbed my attention. With a grand gesture, he talked to me across the room as he walked down the polish stair.

"What might your sudden meeting be accustomed to, my lord?"

_I get it's a power move, but why do you have to walk so damn slow?_

"Irving! It's been so long since I got to see you. I thought it would be great to come check in once in a while! Why am I disrupting anything of importance?"

"Oh no, no. What priorities would I have that would be any more important than the lord himself? Well, only an ignorant, foolish child would think otherwise, wouldn't you say, my prince?"

As Irving took his last step on the staircase, his last word brought about him with silence. I walked up to him and looked at him dead in the eyes.

Then, I burst out into laughter.

"Irving, what the hell? I honestly do not understand how you get away with this! You're lucky that I'm not as stuck up as the old man!"

"Same to you! But seriously, what do you need? I know it's been a long time, but I don't have time to hang out with you whenever you're bored. I finally got my father's approval and I can't keep letting you distract me from my business meetings."

"But you don't have any meetings right now, right? _HMMMM?_ "

"Okay, okay. You caught me. I was actually about to go to a really boring meeting with my father to overlook a safety regulation or something of a new medicinal factory, but now I have an excuse. He can't really argue with royalty."

"You got that right! Anyway, Irving, I was wondering, do you have anyone you like?"

Irving almost tripped over his own foot and angrily looked back at me.

"Can we PLEASE not do this?"

"Aww, buddy, talk to me? I get that your last relationship was a huge flop, but let's think about-"

Irving placed his palm over my mouth and whispered, "Not in front of the servants."

I nodded with a gleeful smile and followed him to his office space.

As the upcoming king, the best way to raise your reputation from the royal board is to have connections and what great connections would there be other than an entrepreneur themselves.

According to previous Orla or Prince Orla's memories, while he was studying economics in my academy times, he needed a tutor to help with studies. During one of his lunch times, he found Irving standing under a tree and getting slapped in the face by a female student. Irving just laughed and sank back under the tree. Prince Orla walked up to him and sat next to the disheartened Irving.

"What do you want?" Irving said after splitting onto the grass to the left of him.

"You know, you must have something real nasty to get her to slap you. From what I remember, she's not even the type of person to confront a person like that. What'd you say?"

"It's none of your business."

"Yeah, I don't think she would have liked that."

"Like I said it's none of your business."

"Well, I'm looking for an economics tutor and you seem like you could make a business or two."

"And what makes you think I'm going to help you?"

"I don't."

Prince Orla handed Irving a piece of paper with a location and a time.

"I'm gonna to be there tomorrow. If you want to help me out, maybe I can help you out with your love life."

Prince Orla stood up from his spot and walked away with a sly smile.

From that day on, Irving would tutor Prince Orla and eventually they would become really close friends.

"You know, Irving, if you weren't as rude to me back then, I don't think I would have ever opened up to you like that."

"Well, I guess you can say my family's luck just runs that deep."

"But the craziest thing isn't that. It's the fact that you were willing to be that rude to the prince's face-"

"Do you want some tea, Orla?"

"Even though I know you're avoiding the question, I guess some tea wouldn't be too bad. Anyway, let's get to why I'm here to meet you. Irving, again, do you have a lover?"

"No, Orla, I don't have any lover."

"Not even a thought of someone comes to mind."

"No, Orla, I don't have anyone that comes to mind."

"You poor man. Cupid never struck to your liking?"

"Orla, you know, I don't have time for that. And even if I did, I don't think that my father would be willing to trust me with my own decisions. You know him, he's just going to force me into an arranged marriage without my consent. He still never trusts me to do anything."

"Well, Orla, I might not have a lover, but I do have someone that comes with great admiration for you!"

"This better not be another one of your weird plans to set me up."

"Irving, how rude! My plans aren't weird! But, anyway, this isn't about me nor you. This is about Arabella."

"Oh, your fiancée! Tell her I truly appreciate her prized imported vase from my last birthday. It truly lightens up my empty office space."

"Of course! But I wanted to ask if you're not too busy to tutor her!"

"Tutor her? On economics? I never knew she was ever interested in that."

"No, not that. In botany!"

"In botany? Just because I delved in it a little for my family's business, doesn't mean I know enough about botany to be considered a teacher. Actually, when was Arabella ever interested in botany?"

In "The Royal Truth", Arabella was not quite skilled in magic nor did she have much to begin with, but due to the fact that gardening didn't require any magic, she was able to put her energy into her gardening skill. She eventually earned quite a name in the gardening community and hosted one of the best tea parties due to her flowery scenery. Well, until you as the heroine would play a mini game to level up your garden and outshine her flowering skill. This would usually be played in Irving's or Orla's route and it kind of pissed me off how a garden contest would make me closer to Irving, but also hurt Arabella's reputation even more. _My poor queen, Arabella!_

"Well, I guess I saw her help tend the garden once in a while."

" _Wait, that Arabella?_ She tended a garden? Whoa, I never would have thought that she was the type to get her hand dirty."

"What do you mean?"

"Arabella is certainly a beautiful woman, but to get her hands dirtied like that? I never even thought Arabella was the type to do her own work! I get that someone would like to learn botany, but Arabella could never. You know she was never good at anything, but looking nice. Man, imagine her actual being good at something-"

"Stop it."

"What?"

"I said to _SHUT UP!_ Like, why would you say something like that? Who cares if someone has something they like!"

Something inside me was stirring. I didn't understand why I was feeling this way, but it was frustrating. I should just shut up, but I couldn't stop. I feel like if I stayed silent that second that I would explode. With my head pounding from anger, I couldn't stop myself.

"Whoa, Orla, you need to calm dow-"

"Don't tell me to calm down! I can't believe a friend of mine would say something so-so-idiotic! Don't you dare just justify your lack of passion and judge her for putting some effort into her work, unlike you!"

I suddenly stopped myself. Irving slowly slipped back into his chair and glanced down at his tea. He finally looked back at me with his cold snake-like eyes. The strange mixture of chills down my spine and the heat of my face rising made for an experience of ultimate discomfort.

He finally broke the silence, trying to do his best to keep his composure.

"You wouldn't understand... you're royalty. A kid born with a silver spoon in his mouth."

Irving suddenly jumped up and angrily slammed his desk.

"SO DON'T _YOU_ DARE TALK TO ME ABOUT EFFORT!"

The anger within me that was slowly rising, suddenly shot right back up.

Embarrassed by his comment, I immediately ran out of the room. Since I was blinded from anger, my tunnel vision made it difficult to look ahead straight. Even with such a large house, I was eventually able to find my way out and the servants immediately called for my carriage. After aggressively sitting in, I didn't look back at the mansion as the carriage carried me away.

I can't believe that Irving said something so idiotic. I knew that he had a sharp tongue, but when he started to bad mouth Arabella, I couldn't stand it. Arabella is more than what that lowlife scum would ever want in a woman. Irving's stupid, misogynistic mindset is just so irritating. What does a person of high class or even a woman have anything to do with what you love? Who cares about what you are as long as it makes you happy?

I looked at my clenched fist grabbing onto my chest as I tried to calm myself down. I concentrated on the red fade forming on my knuckle to isolate myself to my breathing. My feelings were becoming too overwhelming, even for me. I had too many things going through my head that I wasn't even able to realize what just happened.

Why was I so mad for Arabella? She's just a character from a game, right? Or is Prince Orla's feelings getting to me? I don't love her as I would a man, but I care too much for her. This feeling of anger is beyond love and friendship, so what's happening to me? I don't want her to be hurt, but I can't go on with this marriage. What do I do? How do I make her happy?


	4. Part 4 (End of Chapter 1)

It was about two weeks from that horrible confrontation. And the wedding was only a month away.

**_This certainly is fun..._ **

I don't ever think I'm going to recover from such a pathetic display of anger in front of that many servants. The rumors that going to spread from this is certainly going to hurt my reputation. Come on, brain, **_THINK, THINK!_**

In the Council of Orla's, everyone sat in silence.

"Well we could-" Fanboy Orla stopped himself and sat back in his seat.

The silence continued for another long moment.

"Passion Orla, aren't you the one who usually comes up with a motivational speech in times like this? Do you have anything you want to say?" Flower Orla said, trying to lift up the atmosphere.

"Uhhh, something... something passion... Guys, I'm actually not sure what we're supposed to do..." Passion Orla's fire shrunk even more as he mumbled to himself.

All the Orla's were in shock and on how even Passion Orla was speechless on the situation.

Glasses Orla stood up from his chair and stared at the nonexistent ceiling.

"I'm sorry to inform you guys, but I don't think we have any other choice. We're going to have to do it. We're going to have to break her heart."

Then, they all turned in unison as they heard a knock on the bedroom door.

Arabella slowly turned the doorknob and quietly walked in as if she was walking into a den of a sleeping bear.

"Prince Orla, I came to visit you a little earlier than usual. I was wondering how you were doing these past days."

She was the last person I wanted to know about my state.

I turned my body away from her and hid myself further into the bed.

"Orla, I know you long enough to know when you're really asleep."

Arabella came up to the edge of my bed and laid her head against my feet.

"Orla, thank you. I really am happy that I fell in love with you, but if the marriage is causing you this much pain, I don't want it to hurt you. I'm not too stubborn to let someone I love be in this much pain."

I stood up from my bed and noticed Arabella quietly covering her face. I gently placed my hand on her silky long black hair.

"Arabella, you really are too sweet."

Arabella immediately brought her puffy red face from the blanket and pouted at my comment.

" _Y-YOU JACKASS!_ You know you didn't have to say all that! I'm not so stupid to notice what you're doing! Ugh, why can't you just tell me what you think, instead of making these stupid plans behind my back? You think I just want to sit here and cry about your stupid choices! I want to scream and be able to do something about this as much as you do!"

I gently placed my hand around Arabella's back and gave her a tight hug.

"I'm so sorry, Arabella. I'm just so confused. I don't really know what I want. I don't even understand what's been happening with me anymore. I know I just want to make you happy, maybe, even more than I ever wanted myself. But I just can't do this."

I let her go from my hug and saw her teary face trying to hold back the dam of tears that was about to burst.

"But Arabella, I'm going to have to ask for something more cruel."

"W-WHAT NOW?!"

_Arabella is so brave. Even when I keep breaking her with all this horrible news, she just won't run away. Why are you so beautiful when you look at me this way, Arabella? I wish I can give you the love you deserve, but I'm just not who you want me to be._

"Arabella, I'm not ready to tell you why, but even though I can't go on with the wedding, I... I..."

"JUST TELL ME! It hurts so much, but I need to know what else you're hiding from me!"

_I hate myself so much. Why would you love a monster like me, Arabella?_

"I need...I need you to pretend that we are still engaged."

Then, a sharp slap rang across the room.

" _YOU BASTARD!_ Now, you're telling me to keep up your facade for your reputation! After you broke the engagement with me, you want me to continue to stay by your side as your fiancée! I can't believe it! You just keep using everyone around you, don't you? I don't understand why you have to keep pretending..."

She pushed herself off my bed and looked down at me as if I was the most disgusting piece of trash that she ever laid eyes on.

"I'm done with you."

Arabella stomped out of the room as the teardrops continued to stain the carpet floor of my bedroom. The dark circles on the carpet were hard to ignore even when I saw her back running towards the door.

_Don't, Orla. Don't do it. This is your chance. Now she won't push for the wedding. You can officially declare the wedding off. Don't raise her hope anymore..._

But without a second thought, I jumped out of my bed and grabbed her from behind.

"LET GO OF ME!"

Even when Arabella tried to get out of my arm, I was so afraid of letting her go. I felt like if I let go just now, I know she's going to never come back.

"Please just-... I...I- I'm so sorry..."

The heavy teardrops made it hard for me to see what was happening. Arabella slowly stopped struggling to see me crying into her neck. Even though Arabella was just right there in my arm, I couldn't tell what expression she was making nor did I notice what expression I was making. But I could tell it was enough to stop her from leaving.

My head continued to pound as my emotions were becoming too painful again. Everything was happening too fast and I was scared to go into something I didn't understand. I don't her to leave. Whether that was from my own emotions or how my actions were hurting her. I was just too scared of who I am.

Arabella slowly led me to the ground as I was shaking too much. As I quietly continued to grab onto her, she hugged me back and lightly brushed my hair.

We were there in silence for about an hour until the exhaustion soothed me into a deep slumber.


	5. Part 5

Being reincarnated and thrown into some random world, is really not easy on the psyche. Especially the fact that I basically have two egos trying to clash into each other. Also, the fact that I have to keep up with all the duties of a prince. Even if I love all this bonus to my new life as a prince, aren't I just going back to what I did in the old world?

Now that I think about it, why did I want to continue this charade? I know that it would help me push the wedding date back, but it still goes against my goal of making her happy.

Prince Orla is just a persona, yet I'm too embedded into his soul to ignore who he is. I hate this. This feels more like a punishment to my previous life rather than a gift. Nothing is that easy, isn't it, Isekai Goddess! Just give me something! Like a sign!

All of a sudden, a knock came onto my bedroom door. Thinking it was Arabella, I flinched, but relaxed my shoulders to see someone else.

"Umm, hello, my prince. I hope I'm not disturbing you in anything important. My sister was quite worried to see you coped up in your room with your work, but she was too busy with her errands. I volunteered to check up on you, if you don't mind."

**_A new challenger appears!_ **

Fanboy Orla came out into the spotlight and cleared his throat.

According to "The Royal Truth", there was a trigger to Prince Orla's route that made him fall in love with the main heroine. While the main heroine did meet the routes all out of order, the first person that fell for the main heroine wasn't actually Prince Orla, but it was the younger brother of the villainess, Livius!

A young gentleman with silver blue hair and black eyes similar to that of Arabella's eyes. His soft hair falls lightly onto his smooth and snow-colored skin. Even with a baby face, he is known to be quite a handsome man amongst his age group. With a single black streak of hair, he continues to hold his head in pride under the name of his family. As Arabella's younger brother, he is known to be the greatest magician of all the kingdom and a genius in magic.

In this world, the concept of magic is actually similar to how any other academic field would be treated. Magic was an overlap of science and religion, where its science aspect comes from the idea of following laws and experiments to interpret its results and its religious side originates as the sources and history of how those laws came to be. Unlike those two fields, not anyone can use magic nor can they learn it without any proper talent. While Prince Orla does have a source of magic, it wasn't as strong compared to someone like Livius.

Due to Livius' talent as a magician, he became a famous researcher and wrote many revolutionary theories about the magic field. Even though his silver-blue hair already indicated some magical talents within him, his efforts and determination is what really made him shine. Not only did he skip many grades, but he also appeared in Prince Orla's academic years.

"Hello, Livius, don't worry about me, I was just about to leave and go to a board meeting."

"AH! Of course, my lord! You were always so busy with your work! That's why I admired you so much for it!"

Also Livius REALLY admires Prince Orla, almost like a yapping puppy following his owner around. Since he was a few years below everyone, he was always looked down on by everyone, but ever since Prince Orla noticed his talent, Livius felt his source of pride and confidence stemmed from someone so high up admiring him. But there was a reason why he was unfortunately one of my least favorite routes.

"Hello, my lord, I brought you your break-"

Livius stomped towards the servant and looked down at her.

"Can't you tell that the lord is clearly really busy right now?"

"I-I'm so sorry! I was just told to-"

"Did I say you could continue to stand here and talk? You're clearly new here, so please leave this room or else."

"YES!"

As the door slammed shut, right on cue, Livius turned around with a large smile and clapped his hand together.

"I'm so sorry for the rudeness of that servant! I hope it didn't bring down your mood! Y-you know, because that would make my sister sad and all..."

**_Sigh_ **

Livius, just like Arabella, is unusually pompous to other people besides the ones they love. I don't hate him, but I have a hard time with those who are stubborn. While he is nice to me, he was pretty harsh to the main heroine at first. But due to his upbringing of being such a young prodigy, he was brought up with a lot of high expectations from those of higher position. Not knowing how to balance his pride with his expectations, he would look down on those who are lower than him and would put up quite a cold act. Or in the industry, we like to call him a...

"Tsundere..."

"What did you say, my prince?"

"Nothing! Anyway, I have to go to my meeting. I hope you have a great day, Livius!"

"Wait, my prince! How long would the meeting go on?"

"It might actually be a while, Livius."

"Oh, I see. Well, good luck with the meeting, my lord."

When Livius looked down with a disheartened look, I patted Livius' head and gave him a smile.

"After my meeting, would you like to have an afternoon tea with me? Well, if you are willing to wait a while, that is."

"T-that would be lovely, my prince!"

"Just between you and me, just call me Orla." I gave him a small wink.

"O-of course!"

I walked away for my meeting and gave him a small wave as he continued to stare at me walking down the hallway.

**_Damn, I am smooth. Wish I had this when I was in the previous world._ **


	6. Part 6

During the board meeting, I was told about the small battles that our country was holding to fight off the western empire. While we were under no circumstances to push for all out war, we were very much under supplied to prepare for something of this scale.

Ironically, I think even "The Royal Truth" had a subplot of the War of Roses. I think the writer was trying to find a way to up the stakes and bring in new characters for the plot, but I don't really remember what the purpose of it was. Man, this meeting is pretty boring.

"And then this platoon will be brought to the Western frontline. It might be risky, but we might be able to gain some intels on what the Visterlia Empire has in plan to plant their company." A man with a large mustache moved a small pawn across the map towards the line.

"Yes, but what if we get caught? This is not our territory. If we get caught, then Visterlia can interpret our action to be against the border law" The tall man with a tablet shaped head and glasses far too small for his face exclaimed with worry.

"We don't really have a choice, do we?" The short and muscular man with eyes that are somehow constantly closed said angrily.

"Sire, what do you believe might be the best choice?" The tablet shaped head man said.

The king continued to close his eyes and kept his fingers intercrossed at his chin. He then opened his eyes and gave a small glance at me.

I was trying to focus the best I can, but I was too focused on how to apologize to Arabella. That scene just kept repeating in my head.

"Prince Orla."

I snapped from my trance and stood straight from my chair.

"Y-yes, my king!"

"What might you believe we should do next in this battle?"

If I remember the War of Roses, the war occurred between the Western empire, Visterlia and our kingdom, Alethenil over territorial conquest. At this time, the 100 year war was put at halt, but the two countries continue to inch towards each other everyday. Within the game, there was eventually a trigger that caused the war to resume once again. Though the trigger was never specified, there was a small hint of what happened in the war everytime a ending was completed like a puzzle piece falling into place.

Wait a second. Now that I think about it, wasn't this the reason why the main heroine moved to Alethenil after her village was attacked by the Visterlia?

Oh no, is this it? One of the choices I can make to change the fate of this kingdom? If I am able to prevent this war escalation, I could prevent the main heroine from ever needing to meet the other characters and even stop me from humiliating Arabella by protecting the heroine.

No, stop it, you dumbass! This is bigger than your pitiful worries of how Arabella sees you. I was so caught up in my own drama and the game mechanics that I forgot where I really was. This is a real world with real people! This is a chance for me to make a difference! I can actually prevent thousands of people from dying in this pointless war. Who knows, maybe I can even end this war permanently. Anyway, for now, how should I de-escalate this tension...

"I believe that we shouldn't do it."

The man with the mustache looked furiously at me and slammed the table, causing all the generals to slightly jump up.

"I know you're the prince and son of our king. But to make such a poor judgement on a critical battle, don't you understand what you're saying? If we don't make our first move, then we will be the one to suffer the consequences!"

I stood up from my seat and stared right back at the mustached general.

"Well, if you do make such an aggressive approach, that may trigger Visterlia to draw themselves closer to our kingdom. You can't just fight fire with fire! And you should remember that even with our quality of talents on our side, they have the upper hand of a greater scale of supplies and people. You can't neglect the consequences of escalating the battle even further!"

The short, muscular general stood from his chair.

"Then, Prince Orla, where do you think we should place our troops? If we don't take this move, how can you guarantee that the kingdom would be safe from the Visterlians?"

All the generals looked at me with cold eyes, as if they were waiting to make the first judgement to whatever I was about to say. I closed my eyes for a second and took a large breath through my nose.

I slowly opened my eyes and I said with the utmost confidence.

"I don't."

The generals looked at me like I was the Visterlia Empire itself and was about to attack me until I lifted my left hand to indicate that I still had more to say.

"While I can't say that only pulling the troops back to our line will solve the problem, I am willing to state that I would volunteer myself to visit the King of Visterlia, and have a peaceful discussion about this matter!"

Half of the generals looked confused, but the other half looked like they were about to faint from holding in their anger for too long.

The king lifted his left hand to quiet down the mumbling and panicked generals. As he opened his eyes, all the generals and I sat back immediately into their seats.

"Prince Orla."

"Yes, my king."

"Can I trust you with this task?"

"My king, I haven't ever been this confident in my life."

"Well then, I will give you three month and no less to somehow invite the King of Visterlia and find a diplomatic situation to end the tension between our kingdom."

"Yes, my king."

The king nodded and stared back at the confused generals.

"The meeting is now adjourned."

As all the generals left the war room, the king signaled to me to sit down next to him.

"So, son, how have you been doing?"

"I-I'm good, father!"

"Well, that's what I like to hear, but I have some concerns that I like to bring up with you."

Oh no.

"U-uh, what might that be?"

"I heard that some kind of commotion happened between you and Duchess Arabella?"

Oh shoot, has he heard about what we were talking about? Damn those gossiping servants, why can't they just keep to themselves?!

"Father, is not what it sounds like! I was just a bit too caught up in my own stress and I accidentally got Arabella caught up in it..."

That sounded so much better in my head.

"Hmm, son, I might not understand what you're going through, but you need to understand where you stand. The world doesn't revolve around you nor do you revolve around it. If you can't even handle the stress, you're in now, then I'm concerned about how you're going to be a king-"

"NO! I-I mean no, father. I know what I must do. Please believe in me when I say that I have a plan. Just like you always say, 'A real leader always has a plan for his plans.'"

"Okay, Orla. I'm going to continue to watch you. Prove to me. Prove to me that you can become an even greater king than me."

"Yes, my king."

As I bowed down, Father stood up from his chair and patted me on the shoulder. The guard opened the door and followed him out, leaving me in the empty war room alone.


	7. Part 7 (End of Chapter 2)

King Loran and Prince Orla did not have a typical relationship like a father and son would have. Instead of a supportive father who encourages his son with life lessons, he would push his son into even more pressure to force him to learn a life lesson himself. Alone, he did his best to stay by his father's side and provide him all the support he needed. Everyday he worked to keep up to his father's side, but at the same time, he is constantly burned out following his father's path.

All the memories of King Loran rushed to me in a slow but painful motion, like lava that slowly encompasses a town of poor villagers with no way to escape. Terrified out their mind of the pain they must face but accepting of the fate that they have been given.

I felt almost sick to my stomach as these painful memories kept rushing back to me. The image of my previous father and King Loran keeps mixing and churning into one figure. Everything feels the same. I wanted this to just stop.

As I stumbled to my bedroom, Livius noticed me leaning to a wall next to my bedroom door.

"Prince Orla! W-what happened to you-"

I lifted my index finger to my lips and then signaled for Livius to pull me up from the wall.

Livius pulled my right hand and lifted my arm to his shoulder, dragging my body to the bedroom. He slowly released me onto my bed and let me rest for a while.

"Prince Orla, did someone hurt you, or actually here let me use my magic to-"

"Please, Livius, calm down. I don't want any of the servants to hear this commotion. I've already dealt with enough rumors, I don't want another one to start."

"I'm amazed that none of those servants weren't even able to find you."

"I didn't want to be bothered tonight, so I just casted an invisibility spell for a while. I just needed a few minutes to myself without any more eyes on me right now."

"Sir, that must have taken too much toll on your body. Even for a few minutes, it can wear out a magic user without any real training or practice. You... Prince Orla, you truly are talented."

"No, Livius, I'm just good at bullshitting my way through things."

"No, Prince Orla, you don't understand just how amazing you are..."

Livius' hands were shaking and tightening around my hand. So warm like Arabella, yet so much smaller and sharper. I patted Livius's head, making him look up.

"Livius, would you ever tell me that I don't make any right decisions?"

"Of course not! Why would I ever say that?!"

"Then, would you say that it was wrong of me to come up to you that day and offer you my friendship?"

Livius opened his mouth and looked back down. He was on the verge of crying and was making a ridiculous face to hold back his tears.

Man, I just keep making this family cry. When am I going to be able to finally make them just smile for once.

"I won't tell anyone about what happened, so just let yourself go for a while."

Livius immediately stood up from my bed and turned his back away from me.

"Ever since I saw you at the academy and all those students bullied me, you were the only one from the crowd who came up to me. You were the only one who was willing to risk their status to protect me. Even though I said all those cruel things to you... you still stood there holding your hand out to me."

I do remember that.

I heard about a very young prodigy that went around with a stingy attitude towards other students whether they came to him with a positive or negative manner. He pushed himself into isolation and then that isolation became infamy among the school. All students spread harmful rumors about him. Like how he only skipped several grades due to his connection or even the fact that Livius would do favors for the teachers to get such high grades. The life of a young prodigy was too much for even Livius to handle and he was also afraid of his sister being caught up in these rumors.

One day, he snapped back at a group of students for talking about his sister in an indecent manner.

"HAH, Little Livius is trying to protect his older sister? What are you? You're in love with your sister?" The students kept pushing him as they stood from their chairs.

"Do you think just because you're from a rich family that you would be protected? Ha! With the attitude you give us, I bet your family doesn't even like you."

"If his family does really care about him, he would have moved out already. He can just use his family connection to climb up the rank there too!"

The tallest student of the group pushed him harder.

"Don't look down on us, just because you're smarter and richer. All you royal families, don't understand what we have to go through. Unlike you guys, your birth is the only reason why people praise you. It doesn't even make sense why you get to live luxuriously, while my family had to work hard to get here!"

The tallest student pushed him even harder to the ground, and then as he started kicking Livius, all the other students around him gathered. Some of the students even joined and started beating Livius as he quietly endured all the pain.

Prince Orla pulled the tallest student back and threw himself in between the students and Livius. The students started backing up, realizing who this was.

"If you don't want my family to get involved as well, I suggest you all walk away. NOW."

All the students quickly dispersed and left the classroom as quickly as possible. Prince Orla then turned to Livius and reached out his right hand.

"Here grab my hand-"

Livius slapped it away and glared angrily at him.

"I didn't ask for your help! I don't want to be protected!"

"I ain't protecting you. I'm protecting your sister."

Livius froze and stared back down to the slightly bloodied floor. Then he noticed the blood on the floor started to mix with drops of water. It wasn't Livius who was crying. It was Prince Orla!

"Damn those kids are too strong for their own good. That tall kid was really squirming when I tried to stop him and then his elbow hit me hard in the chest. The pain is really kicking in."

As Prince Orla started tearing up, Livius couldn't help, but laugh a little.

"Why are you laughing at me? You think it's funny that I'm tearing up?"

"Yeah pretty much! It's so funny to see the prince of our great nation, grovel in the ground and tear up like a baby."

"Must be nice to be able to breathe properly, because it's getting really hard to breathe with my chest in pain."

Livius positioned himself upright and placed both of his hands over Prince Orla's chest. A light blue color shined around his hands as he started mumbling a chant. Suddenly, Prince Orla's chest was starting to feel more relieved and clear. Perhaps even better than he ever felt in his life.

After several minutes, Livius opened his eyes and slowly stood up from the ground. When he was about to stumble, Prince Orla caught him.

Livius looked up at Prince Orla and saw a bright smile across his face.

"Prince Orla is my name, if you haven't heard."

"Livius... your sire. I am the younger brother of Duchess Arabella of the Israne family."

"I know. Though you don't really have to introduce yourself as the 'younger brother'."

Looking back up at Prince Orla, Livius stared at him with a puzzled look.

"I mean that you don't have to introduce yourself from someone I know. I came to you, so introduce yourself as you."

Continuing to stare at Prince Orla with a puzzled look, Livius reintroduced himself.

"I am Duke Livius of the Israne family. I am grateful to meet you, Prince Orla."

"It's nice to meet you, Livius. I hope we can continue to be good friends from now on."

Livius continued to place both of his hands over my chest and I finally felt like my lung was opening up much better. I could feel the air fill my chest with every breath I took in. I could finally relax.

I felt myself slowly drift into a deep sleep and noticed how Livius briefly glanced over my body as if to check on my state.

He stopped his investigation and looked down at me. I could hear him whisper to himself, "I might be younger than you and I might not be as great as you. But, just you watch. I'm going to surpass you one day. I'm going to be such a great magician that even you won't be able to rule without me."

Livius smiled and bowed once more before leaving my bedroom.


	8. Part 8

In the Council of Orla’s, there were stacks of documents that were scattered all over the table and floor.

“What is going on here?! I was just gone for a quick second and this place is already a mess!” An Orla with two glow sticks stuffed on each side of his head and held by his white headband shouted across the room.

Another black aura Orla with deep dark circles under his eyes, or Dark Orla, came up from the pile and shouted, “ _ OH, SO SORRY, SIR FANBOY ORLA _ . It seems that we’re trying to organize the millions of promises we made for other people. We’ll never get through this! Well I never really had that much hope for us anyways!”

The Orla with a delicate pink flower crown, or Flower Orla, was somehow able to keep up with the organization. He shouted, “Dark, you’re not helping the situation right now by just complaining about it! Why can’t you be like Passion and push through your work with passion?”

“Did someone say PASSION?!” An Orla with sparkle in his eyes and a small flame floating on his head, jumped up from the document pile.

“Oh no! Passion Orla, don’t-“

“ **PPPPAAAAASSSSSSIIOONNNNNNN!!** ”

The fire on Passion Orla burst into a human flamethrower until Flower Orla jumped across the table and wrestled him down. All the other Orla’s covered the document to prevent the flames from spreading. As Flower Orla aggressively smacked his head with one of the chair’s cushions, Passion Orla started to calm down.

“Okay, I get that we’re all feeling a bit rejuvenated, but let’s make sure that our blind persistence won’t get in the way of our planning.” The final Orla pushed up his glasses and said as he was able to climb out his pile of documents. 

Fanboy Orla shot his hand up in the air.

“Yes, Fanboy.”

“I wanted to ask, can we go over what’s going on?”

“Well, let’s start with the most important promise. ARABELLA!”

All the Orla’s started their chant, “ARA! BELLA! ARA! BELLA! ARA! BELLA!”

“Okay enough!”

All of the Orla’s went back into silence.

“With Arabella, we need to figure out how to make up for the shitty favor we asked from her. While I do understand that the easiest way out of this is to officially break the engagement, we can’t do that just yet. With our reputation on the line, we need to make sure that Arabella is able to find someone to engage to and for us… we can figure that out later on. So, in conclusion for Arabella, our goal is to make her as happy as possible and to help her fulfill her dreams of marriage!”

“What if that’s not what Arabella wants?”

Glasses Orla slammed the table and shot straight up. “WHO SAID THAT?! YOU INSOLENT FOOL! COME ON OUT WHERE I CAN FIGHT YOU!”

Flower Orla popped out the document pile and looked straight at Glasses Orla’s eyes with a saintly aura around him..

“You know, marriage isn’t the only thing that a person looks for. We never even asked what she really wanted in all this situation. Isn’t the fact that we’re even making this plan behind her back what started the whole thing? Forget about ‘Operation Arabella’s Happiness’ and let’s focus on what really makes Arabella happy.”

All of the Orla’s slowly started clapping and transitioned into cheering, then burst into a roar of chanting with “FLOWER! FLOWER! FLOWER!”.

“Oh, you don’t have to cheer for me. Oh stop it, you guys.~” Flower Orla said, holding the cheeks of his blushing face and swaying his body side to side.

Glasses Orla fixed his glasses and looked back at Flower Orla.

“I hate to admit it, but you’re right. Maybe, this isn’t the time to be pushing for such a brilliant plan. Okay, then for Arabella, we will have an open and clear discussion with her. Now, for the next important promise, we made…”

Dark Orla stood up from his chair with a single document in his hand.

“Isn’t it something about a potential diplomatic discussion with the King of Visterlia that could either save thousands of lives or bring about a destruction to the kingdom between the Visterlia Empire and the Alethenil kingdom in about three weeks?”

“Oh yeahhh, that. Eh, we can think about after we have tea with Livinus.” Fanboy Orla said as he continued to help pat out any potential smokes from Passion Orla’s fire.

The Orla’s all nodded with each other. 

Dark Orla shouted in disagreement, “ARE YOU SERIOUS? DAMNNIT, WE REALLY ARE DOOMED!”

“I’m just kidding! But, honestly, isn’t it kind of weird that we never really saw him in the game?”

Glasses Orla looked up at the nonexistent ceiling with his arm crossed and said, “Yeah, now that I think about it. We did finish all the main character routes, but there should be a few more endings. But we never really finished the entirety of the game.”

Fanboy Orla nodded in agreement and looked back at Glasses Orla.

“The history of this guy might intertwine with the other main characters' route, so it would be a good idea to figure out how the king connects to the game. But, how do we gain more intel about this guy? I know we can read all the history books we want, but I think the fastest way to truly understand one’s culture is straight from the horse’s mouth. Do we know any character or representative that could tell us about the current king?”

“Irving?” Dark Orla pointed out.

Flower Orla jumped from his chair and flailed his arms aggressively. 

“NOOOOOO. After what happened, it would be super awkward to apologize and just directly ask him about this mysterious King. I don’t want him to think that we only apologize to him for intel and I don’t want to owe him anything right now. You know how he’s always the ‘give and take’ kind of guy. Now that I think about it, why did we even think about making Irving a potential bachelor for Arabella?”

Fanboy Orla raised his hand again until all the Orla’s turned to him.

“WELL, in “The Royal Truth”, Arabella didn’t really play a major role in Irving’s route, but he did have an array of fiancée that fought over him, he could have picked from and was even considered a playboy in the story. Even with his lack of emotional attachment to the physical relationship he formed with other women, his charisma and status didn’t stop him from getting any women to fall for him. A genius in business and persuasion, he never understood love until he met the heroine. Due to the main heroine’s lack of knowledge of the rich, she treated him as if she were his equal and fell deeply in love with her charms.”

Fanboy Orla silently laughed to himself, then proceeded to his explanation. 

“Even if he tries to charm the heroine, nothing worked and this made him pursue her even more. The fact that Irving didn’t have as much impact on Arabella's route, made me think it might have been the best chance for her to find someone that wouldn’t lead her to a bad end.”

“Huh, Fanboy Orla, couldn’t we have talked about this when we first introduced Irving as a character?” Dark Orla said tilting his head.

“Yeah, but I think the writer already finished the first chapter and didn’t really want to change the pacing of the writing.”

“This is a disgusting amount of exposition, you understand that, right?”

“Yes, mother.”

All of the Orla’s sighed in unison and went back to organizing their documents.

“WAIT A SECOND! WHAT ABOUT HIM?!” Fanboy Orla shouted and excitedly pointed to the document he was holding.

Everyone’s eyes widened and then they all aggressively nodded to each other.

“YES! Oh man, I can’t wait to see him again! For now, our goal is to find this character and get the information we need for the King of Visterlia! Meeting adjourned!” Glasses Orla slammed the gavel against the desk.

  
  



	9. Part 9

After a week of finishing up my "prince-ly" activities in reevaluating tax reforms and ensuring the balance between the monarchy and the rest of the nobles, I decided that I wanted to go upon my plan! Who knew that having the memory of all those years of corporate office would be so helpful to me!

"PRINCE ORLA! PRINCE ORLA!"

_Damn, not that voice again..._

A short servant, Boris, burst through the door with sweat pouring out of every pore on his skin. Boris was a new and quite a young-looking servant, as well as one of the first people I saw when I woke up in this world. He was also one of the few servants willing to burst into the chambers of royalty, but he was lucky enough to be amazing at his job of gathering information.

"Why, Boris? Do I have to call the head servant again to go over with you about the concept of royal manners?"

"I'm so sorry, my prince!" As Boris was about to go back out to redo his re-entrance, I lifted my left hand and signaled to him to hurry with his message.

"Prince Orla, I have great news! And... just a little, teeny bit of bad news..."

"What would that be?"

"The great news is that the Visterlia Empire have been moving their company away from the western line of Alethenil Kingdom and have finally stopped encroaching any further towards the kingdom!"

"Oh my god... That's actually great... That means there's a possibility the Visterlia might not want to start any kind of territorial threat to our kingdom!"

"Umm, that's where the bad news comes in, my prince."

**_BORIS, WHY YOU GOTTA DO THIS TO ME??_ **

"Rumors have been stated that there was another Visterlia platoon headed towards the north of our kingdom."

"Wait, why would that matte-...Unless..."

No, it can't be.

Above our kingdom holds quite a large federation known for their diverse cultures and high international trading system among their high number of 33 states. While our kingdom holds great relation with the federation of Polaria, their states were also known for being too independent, there would be a possibility of other divisions opposing the relations between Alethenil and Polaria. If the King of Visterlia is somehow able to convince some of the divisions to join their side without the Alethenil's acknowledgement, they might be able to further build their army...

"No, they wouldn't...NO!"

Blindly by anger, I slammed the desk behind me, leaving a slight crack under my fist.

"I-I'm sorry, my prince."

"Hold on Boris, was there any more to that news?"

"Oh! Yes! The Visterlia platoon seems to have not made too much progress to the North, so the generals are to believe that the King of Visterlia will not be starting their approach any time soon, especially with the upcoming winter. So, the meeting would be extended... though I don't quite understand that part myself."

"One more thing, Boris."

"Yes, my prince?"

"Who was one that told you to give me this message?"

This is insane! Who would go up to a servant like Boris and give such sensitive information? At most, he would give me a letter instead, but no, he was given a direct order to give me the message by mouth. Especially with such sensitive information, this would be considered treachery if Boris were to find this knowledge himself or even spoken too loudly for others to listen in.

 _UGH_ , I still can't believe I was dumb enough to response so loudly to such an important news. I let my guard down too easily and let such an important message out in the open.

So, if I remember the message, there must have been some importance to why I was given the message by mouth or rather... it must be a test. King Loran, or my "father", is really fond of these insane tests to see my ability as the upcoming king, but he would be too paranoid to allow others to listen to such information, so it made sense that Boris wasn't told directly by him.

If I were to read a letter, I would have a response, but to have a witness to react to specific sentences would be a great method to evaluate my reaction. Why Boris? Or rather why me? Who else would test me other than the king?

There must be someone more powerful that told Boris to search for me. Especially the fact that he doesn't have a quite strong recollection of that mysterious person just makes this so much more suspicious to me. I'm going to have to keep an eye on Boris. His ability might be getting too troublesome... Anyway, for now, I can look for that person, or-

"H-hello Princ- I mean, Orla!"

Livius nervously stood at the door noticing my quick pacing across the room. He's so adorable. (lol)

"Ah, Livius, what might the occasion be?"

"U-umm, Orla!"

"Yes?"

"ORLA!"

"Yes, that is my name. Don't wear it out."

"I'm sorry, Orla. I'm just so happy that you see me as your equal! I am truly honored and promise to not do anything to not tarnish your royal name! I swear by my ancestors, my descendants-"

"Livius, don't place that burden onto yourself. Again, we are acquaintances. You do not need to place me at such a high pedestal."

"Yes, O-Orla!"

"So, Livius, how is your sister doing?"

"Oh, my sister..."

Livius's expression quickly shifts from pure joy to a darkened expression of disappointment. Surprised at the sudden shift in mood, I tried to change the topic, but Livius spoke up first.

"Orla, I'll be honest with you, but I haven't seen my sister around for a while."

"WAIT, SHE'S MISSING-"

"No! She's not missing. There were several servants who witnessed her presence around the castle, but it seems that she's been disappearing on several occasions. We unfortunately do not know where she goes, nor does my father really care where she is either."

"Livius, how long has she been missing?"

"Umm, well, she..."

I realized Livius shifting his eyes away from me and dwindling his fingers much too rapidly for comfort. I walked up to Livius and lowered myself to his eye level.

"Livius, how long has she been missing?"

Another moment of silence from Livius as he struggles to look into my eyes.

"I see. Livius, I thought we were close companions, but it has seems you have prov-"

"NO! Please! I-I'm not... it's not what it seems!"

I stared at him a bit longer, then placed both arms behind me and turned my back towards him.

"Livius, I don't understand why you are hesitant, but from my estimation, I'm assuming she's been on these sudden disappearance the last time you came to me. If it were recently and you weren't hiding anything from me, you would have immediately told me. The way you are this hesitant and thinking too hard about the time, makes me realize that it may have been possible that she has been missing even further before then. So, if you are this hesitant, then perhaps in that last visit, you never actually received the message from her to meet me?"

"No, please, Prince Orla, that's not it! I-I-!"

"You have always been such a bad liar, Livius... But I guess that's why I trust you so much."

While almost on the verge of tears, Livius finally took a deep breath to calm himself. He was now able to look properly into my eyes.

"Princ-...Orla, I... I can't tell you what's really happening. I will say with no doubts that Arabella told me to visit you that day, but that was the last message I received from her. I was not able to see her since. Every time I heard from the servants of her presence, I was not able to find her."

"Hmm, then Livius, have you heard anything else from her by any chance?"

"N-no, Orla!"

"I see."

Something weird is happening... First, Boris tells me such sensitive information and given those instructions from a mysterious person that he assumed work in our palace. And then Arabella's disappearance from the kingdom without any messages received to me. How was I never aware of Arabella's movement until now? Shouldn't the fact that I'm her fiancé make any messenger or watch guards warn me about the situation? What is happening?

Man, I miss Arabella. I want to see her beautiful smile again... My poor queen doesn't deserve any of this. But as soon as I wanted to, she happened to be away on these sudden errands... I wonder...

"Livius, I apologize for my sudden interrogation. As her fiancé, I want to ensure her safety and wellbeing."

"Of course, sir..." He looked down to ground back to his expression of disappointment. I can see his invisible puppy ears and tails limping down.

_He's too easy to read._

"Livius, let's continue to discuss your studies over an afternoon tea."

As if I brought out a high-class special edition treat, Livius' eyes immediately brightened up.

"THAT WOULD BE AMAZING, ORLA!"

Man, I don't think I would ever be praised this much in any of my lifetime. I do have to admit, while I did find his character route pretty annoying, because of how cruel he can be to the main heroine, being on the other end of his extreme admiration is kind of fun. But, I'm pretty sure the fact that I'm in a high ranking position is mainly the reason why he wants to stick by my side. That thought does sadden me, but I'll trust him for now that he just genuinely wants to be my friend.

But these days, I've been having such a strange feeling. I usually have this feeling of being untouchable under all this magnificent beauty and overflowing charisma... but why do I still feel so vulnerable? Like someone's been watching me...


	10. Part 10

"So, I've been currently researching on how we could use magic for transportation, but it seems like the science field has been in competition to us..."

Livius was discussing his current research of various magical based transportation and the fact that it was possible in this world to get a flying carriage does sound pretty cool.

Unfortunately, I don't specialize in the technological structure of transportation, but maybe I can find a way to have a really smart person figure out a way to speed up technology in this world. Either way, it's going to be dangerous to just lay out all my technological layouts from my previous world, especially with the current possibility of war and how it could potentially be used against us... Yeah I'm just going to keep it on the down low.

"Oh, Livius! I wanted to ask. Are there any activities or novels that you like to follow?"

"Umm, not that I can think of? I have been so busy with my current projects that I have not been able to follow any outside media. But I guess I find researching a form of hobby?"

_Damn it._

"I-I'm sorry, Orla! I didn't mean to disappoint you!"

"No, it's okay, Livius."

Another thing I realized after coming to this fantasy world, is the lack of fandoms or real nerd culture I can follow. Usually in the original world, there were so many things I could distract myself with to recover and go back to work. But, now I've been stuck in this cycle of work and nosing around servant's gossip. I was even thinking that maybe there was a thing like a really fun line of novels I could read or a famous band of bards that I could fanboy over.

Instead, I'm stuck here trying to physically get Arabella to find her own character route and get the best ending ever. Even though I love her to death, it's honestly been so boring now that I decided not to meddle in her business.

"Oh, but Orla, I actually did notice that my sister reads a lot of novels in her spare time. I would even say she gets unusually loud and excited every time the novel is released, but of course, someone who is as busy as you would never fall into such strange activities-"

"WHAT IS IT?!... I-I mean, what would it be? I would not mind taking up an activity similar to that of my fiancée's, rather it might be nice that we have another thing in common."

 _ **OH MANNN!**_ If Arabella is into this novel that much, it must be a romance novel that could exist in this world. That would be really cool to see what kind of book this current world would create. It's even possible that this world could create a whole new genre or even a story that has never been seen in my original world! The possibilities are endless!

Especially with Prince Orla's memories, I think he really needs to open his creative world up. All he seems to have as hobbies is in working out, sword fights, hunting, and military techniques. With such a fratboy-like taste, I was so bored of even remembering what he did, but I guess as a prince, it must have been difficult to range out his hobbies.

That's why for the sake of mine and Prince Orla's sanity, I'm going to find some new hobbies and fandoms to jump into for my daily stress cleansing!

"Umm, Orla! I have some hobbies that I like to do as well! Compared to my sister's, this would surely be much greater!"

Breaking out of my train of thoughts, I remembered that Livius was my guest of honor and I told myself that today I was going to give my attention to him.

"I'm sorry, Livius, but I would love to hear about your hobby! It would be amazing to try something new!"

Livius proudly put his fists on his hips and said, "Well, it would actually involve your magic and would be a great way to range your magic skills! A great way to warm up and train your brain muscles that involves any magical abilities!"

With widened eyes, I furiously nodded my head and was extremely excited to try out my magical skills in this world for the first time!

"Orla, this is important, but I hope you remember where the source of magic comes from for certain people."

"Uhhh..."

"Well, it is a common knowledge we learned since when we were little, but it's okay! As a magic prodigy, I'm pretty sure that I tend to remember these information more than others. Either way, I love explaining and teaching about magical theories, so this would be fun for me!"

I dodged a bullet there! I didn't notice this until now, but it seems that my memories that don't involve any other characters I haven't meant doesn't exist for some reason. Strange... I thought I had all my memories intact, but I only remember very specific fragments. It's as if I only exist as long as other characters recognize my presence...

"Okay, Orla, so you know that not all humans have the same levels of magical skills, right?"

"Yep, I definitely know that! It especially explains why you're not only talented, but have the unlimited resources to power that skill!"

Livius slightly blushed and gave a conceited smile.

"Hahaha, well, I do try to also practice and train myself for good measure. Anyway, magic is considered as much a field that anyone can study in, such as the chemistry of cooking or the biology of butchering. So, anyone can technically study it, but to truly perform magic is a whole different category."

Livius brought out a crystal ball from his ball and waved his hand over it to project images in the air. I gave a small clap as he continued his lecture.

"There are those who have the innate talent and skill to perform magic to a masterful level in a short period of time. Those people are called Liners, due to studies of how those who are shown to have this talent are able to see the world with abstract lines in specific patterns. But after their adolescence, they tend to outgrow this perspective and in exchange they develop an acute ability to learn how magic functions, as well as a high energy resource for magic. Bonus to the magical prodigy sign, if their hair also has an unnatural color. Anyway, they would usually be trained and grow to be masters of their talent and even future leaders."

"Just like you, Professor Livius!"

Livius blushed even harder and gave a small dry cough. He turned his back towards me and continued his lecture.

"So, in order to allow the youth of magicians to practice their magic, we developed a game. So, Orla, the game rules start with this."

Suddenly something clicked in me. As if I already saw this before.

"There are only four elements we will focus on. Fire, Water, Earth and Air. You will summon any creature of those elements. When I count to three, you and I will simultaneously summon an elemental creature and have it go at each other. Certain magicians tend to prefer to stick to one element with various creatures or one creature with various elements. So you could either win by the type of elemental you summon or if your magic was strong enough to summon a more powerful creature you could win. But the powerful creature takes longer and requires more skill to summon in that short span of time, so it is almost impossible to win that way."

I stared blankly at Livius with his sparkling eyes and realized that this was exactly like the mini game in the "The Royal Truth".

Fanboy Orla came out into the spotlight and gave a small dry cough.

"In the game, if the main heroine was on the route to Livius, you would be challenged by him to fight against him. You were forced to play this game and losing several rounds of it, would make it extremely difficult to bring your favorability up with him. Since Livius cares deeply about status and power, you would play the game to prove to him that you were beyond your lower class status. Therefore, if you lose in this mini game, you would automatically get a bad end. But, there is no such thing as a bad end in the real world... ** _AAAAAAAAAA_** "

**_AAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH_ **

As I was internally screaming about not wanting to lose another ally in this world, Livius waved his hand in front of my face and called out to me.

"Orla? Are you okay, Orla?"

"AHHHHhhh I- I mean, I'm okay! I just was thinking about what creature I wanted to summon! HAHAHAHA..."

**_REAL SMOOTH, ME._ **

Trying not to panic, I stood up from the chair and took my position against Livius. I could technically quit now and tell Livius that I don't want to do this, but he's just so happy! I can't say that no to such a happy boy! It would be too evil to disappoint him now, but I don't want him to hate me! I know I'm the prince and all, but he looks up to me so much, this could essentially disappoint him!

YOU KNOW WHAT! Either way, he's going to hate me whether from my bad magic or from my constant disappointing rejection for any proposal Livius brings up. I'm just going to take the risk and see if I can take the chance of making him like me more!

I ready my stance and try to recall all my memories of doing magic.

According to the mini game, "Mahomon" or "Magical Monsters", the game is essentially a rock, paper, scissors game that requires the player to play off luck or psychology. But if you happen to choose a weak elemental creature, you basically would be forced to play a small rhythm game to summon a bigger creature. It was a pretty fun game to replay when I'm bored to be honest. But since the real world doesn't have a rhythm game for me to play, I would have to actually use my magic and would have to rely on luck... unless if you basically memorize the guidebook from the previous world, then you don't really need luck! **_MWHAHAHA!_**

Anyway, since Livius tends to prefer Water based creatures so if I go with any creature with an Earth based creature, I could win this game.

I slowly focused on all the time I spent with Livius as we practiced magic and would practice summoning different kinds of creatures. In the midst of me remembering, I couldn't get out of my head that one memory...

Livius and I shouted at the same time.

"3"

"2"

"1"

"GO!"


	11. Part 11 (End of Chapter 3)

I dropped on the grass as the neon orange sunlight slowly flashed against my skin. Trying to catch my breath, I looked back at Livius sitting on the ground and breathing heavily. I pulled myself up from the grass and continued to look at Livius. As we made eye contact, we gave each other a large smile and laughed until the sun went completely down.

Well, I'm not surprised, but it still hurts. I can't believe I lost so miserably.

After the first round, I couldn't remember in time on how to summon a creature and ended up summoning a small wooden rabbit that was immediately wiped out by Livius' giant water hawk.

But, that scene was exactly like the memory I was trying to retrieve from our time at the academy. I guess he also was thinking of the same memory, where he was tutoring me on summoning and the same result occurred. It felt pretty fateful and metaphorically.

A small wooden rabbit and a giant water hawk. The elements reigns more powerful than another, yet the amount of effort still outshines those of status.

After that hearty laughing session, I turned back to the sunset and finally spoke up.

"Well, aren't you a show off?"

Livius jumped a little and turned his body towards me.

"W-wait, what do you mean?"

"Well, you didn't have to summon such a large creature and wear yourself out like that! It was just a small game between us!"

"OF COURSE! I always give my hundred percent in these kinds of things! Especially in front of you, I never want to lose anything magic related! Since it's all I have..."

I silently stared at Livius for a few minutes and gave a large sigh.

"It's not easy being you, Livius."

"Well, I bet it's not any easier being you, Prince Orla. You were always quite talented in a variety of fields, even if you aren't as extremely talented as me in magic."

**_Hey!_ **

"But all I have is magic. I guess though, I technically do have a better chance to get the position of dukedom compared to my older sister."

**_HEYYY!_ **

"But she's still way more likeable than me. Just like you Prince Orla, she was able to keep consistent top grades in all subjects and most definitely has more friends than I could ever imagine. Even if I try to practice in other subjects, I just can't get it as quickly as you or Arabella. I even overheard from my father that she may have actually had a chance to take the dukedom, since I am not as well liked in the community as she is. UGH! You guys are so much more talented and amazing than I can ever be..."

"Livius, you are such a pain."

"P-PRINCE ORLA! I'm sorry! I didn't mean to insult you in any way-"

"No, you idiot. I mean, that you just can't see how much talent you have. And the fact that you accomplished so much at such a young age, is not something anyone can do. But Livius is something you were able to do. Give yourself more credit to where it's done. You have something that we don't and that makes you, you."

Livius teared up a little and gave a heavy sigh.

"Orla, you're much more different than the last time I saw you."

Slightly surprised, I tried to calm down and act as casually as I could.

**_Did he figure it out? Please don't let him figure it out. It's such a pain to explain anything about this._ **

"EH, w-what do you mean? HAHAHAHA..."

"You weren't always this... well, pardon my words, but as attentive as this?"

"Oh, Livius! I'm pretty sure I was always this way! Whatever made you think I was not this attentive to others! HOHOHOHO..."

"No, I can't say anymore, sir, I don't want to seem rude..."

**_Damn, how bad was Prince Orla back then?_ **

"Come at me, Livius! I can handle it!"

"Well, I will admit that you were much more... domineering about your status and quite rude to your servants... and slightly cold to nobles of lower status..."

"Hmm, sounds about right."

"But, I always admired you and know that you were much better than what those other nobles judge you for!"

"Thank you, Livius."

"And also, for some reason, you now...seem much more warmer and kinder."

My face started to warm up a little. I was quite surprised by Livius' sudden openness to my question that it was embarrassing me. Did he by any chance... No, it can't be...

I slightly gave a dry cough to interrupt the atmosphere.

"Anyway, Livius, I'm glad to hear that from you. I guess I just grew up a little and realized how important it is to care for those around me."

"Hmm, ever since that day, it's interesting how much you have changed."

"That day? What do you mean by that?"

"Oh... I thought you knew..."

As surprised as Livius, I closed my eyes to concentrate on what happened right before I came to this world, but nothing was coming up. It was as if I didn't want to remember...or rather someone is preventing me from remembering...

**_OUCH_ **

My head suddenly had a sharp pain. The more I try to recall that memory, the more the pain started to ring.

"Orla, are you okay?"

"I-I'm fine... It seems that I can't remember exactly what you're talking about."

"Well, I wasn't there when it happened, but apparently, you disappeared for a few days after a month from your proposal to Arabella. No one knew where you went and everyone freaked out for a while. When the king was about to send an army to search for you after five days of your disappearance, you suddenly showed up knocked out on your horse. Also, since in your proposal, you were extremely adamant on the date of the wedding, she wanted to honor your wish. So, she continued to plan for the wedding while helping with your recovery. Apparently, you were just kind of awake in and out, according to my sister. It is quite strange how you suddenly recovered, but I am glad that you're doing much better after all that."

_Guilt is now sinking even deeper. Arabella, whyyyyyyy_

"I-I was knocked out?!"

"Yeah, but it's not a big deal anymore. I'm quite surprised you don't remember. I assumed that you were on an important mission or something, but I genuinely do not know any more than that."

My head was pounding even harder as I kept forcing the memory to come back to me, but eventually I just gave up. This forceful memory recovery really worn me out.

"Well, it seems to be getting quite dark. It's been such a long time since I suddenly had to use my magic that it seems to have tired me out. I think I am going to go back to my chambers."

"Oh, of course! I do not wish to keep you here for too long!"

"And Livius."

"Yes, sir!"

"Remember. You are special in your own way. And your sister and I are here to support you all that we can."

"Thank you, sir!...But, I will admit that's not the only reason why I'm jealous of my sister..."

"Hmm, what did you say? Speak up, won't ya?"

"N-nothing! I just hope you have a goodnight, Prince Orla!"

Giving a small head pat, I said, "Goodnight, Livius."


	12. Part 12

It's been almost four days since Boris came up to me to discuss the delay in my meeting with the King of Visterlia. It might be good news to some, but it just means there are bigger things I need to plan for. I don't have a good feeling about this, but I need to move on. I don't have much time anymore.

Now first things first, I need to find HIM.

The last route I took as the main heroine in "The Royal Truth", the one I saved best for last... Ciar!!

My number one favorite character among the routes I played (of course behind my beloved Arabella) who I wholeheartedly fell in love with as soon as I saw him! I knew he was going to be my favorite and my type as soon as I saw him in that cover. Although he does not get as much space in the cover art and the audience is a bit split on him being the top favorite, I love him from the bottom of my heart.

"Ciar, my giant cinnamon teddy bear! I'm coming to find you!"

As soon as I shouted that out from my room, I noticed that someone was watching me from the door.

Boris stood there with a deadpan expression and said, "Uh, my sire, someone is requesting for your presence..."

**_YOU IDIOT, BORIS!!! WHY DON'T YOU EVER KNOCK?! I WANT TO DIEEEEE!!!_ **

I readjusted my suit and slightly fluffed my golden curls.

"Boris, again, please knock before you walk into the prince's room."

"Sorry again, my sire."

_Oi, Boris, that sounded real cold._

"Anyway, who may the guest be?"

"She requested to surprise you and did not want to speak of her name."

_Wait, who the hell can this be?_

I walked out of my room, following Boris into the main chamber and found a beautiful woman with long golden hair such as mine. A skin with a radiant pearl that shone as pale just like mine, but with a rosy pink touch.

She turned around with her sparkling green eyes and looked at me with a radiating smile.

"Little sis..."

Fanboy Orla did a little twirl into the spotlight.

"Elaine is the younger sister of Prince Orla who ends up becoming one of the best friends to the main heroine. A sweet and straight forward character, she would help support the main heroine to meet her brother. The main heroine at the beginning didn't know about her status, but if you continue on Prince Orla's route, she is one of the key characters to help advocate for the heroine when the player chooses to call out Arabella.

Since Prince Orla is one of the hardest characters to gain due to Arabella's schemes, Elaine is basically a major witness to those deeds and even helps the main character to get closer to Prince Orla.

While Elaine is the key to help the main heroine, she is quite a scary character against Arabella."

"Hello, Prince Orla."

As she gave her usual shiny smile, I slightly winced as imaginary flowers started to grow around her.

 _So bright!_ I guess that's why she's nicknamed the Jewel of the Sun in the game.

"So, Elaine, it's been such a long time since I saw you. Have you been recovering a bit?"

"I'm well enough to get out of bed now. But it still seems that I am not capable of moving as much as I used to. It seems to be getting worse."

Slightly surprised at her words, I grabbed her hands and gave it a small pat.

"I really hoped that something would have allowed you to heal a little more, but it seems that I still haven't heard as much as I wish about this disease."

Elaine suddenly stared daggers into me to the point of almost burning holes into me.

"Uhh, Elaine, w-what's wrong?"

She pulled her hands away from me and started wincing and scrunching up her face as if I was the most disgusting thing in the world.

"Uhhhh, Elaine? Hahaha, you're making me feel real bad here..."

Her wrinkled face scrunched up even more than I thought it was possible for a human with such perfect skin to be able to so.

"Elaine! Holy shit, just tell me what's wrong?!"

She finally loosened up her face and sighed.

"That was incredibly disgusting. I'm usually okay when you're cold to me, but being that affectionate was really weird."

As if a switch clicked, Elaine suddenly loosened her body and language, looking more like a usual young female adult rather than a princess. I never knew about this side of Elaine. Even in the game, she would tend to be pretty happy-go lucky and cheery, but right now, she just looks like my previous sister...

"Well, you set the atmosphere that way. How was I supposed to know that you want me to treat you like shit?"

"You're not wrong. But still please don't ever do that again. You're the prince and my brother, please just stay cool."

A sharp arrow of truth shot into my head.

I guess there was a reason why Prince Orla has been slightly cold to lower class citizens.

Elaine sighed again and straightened her posture back.

"Anyway, I've been feeling worse these days, and the best doctors have been trying to figure it out. I'm not going to suddenly get worse, but it's been like a ticking bomb where there might be a chance I would be in critical condition."

"Has Livius been able to help you these days?"

"He says he placed it as one of his top projects, but he's been too occupied to deal with it right now, especially the fact that there might be a potential war that's going to break out soon."

"Wait what do you mean?"

"Orla, Orla, Orla, I'm not stupid. I have ears to this castle and I heard that you've been behind the major operation for it."

_Damn, Elaine. You're good at this. You go queen._

"Well, yes, but I was hoping that was more under wraps."

"Don't worry, apparently, Irving has been keeping the information flow in the down low as much as possible. Since he's the distributor for the military weapons, he's continuing to send more information to your disposal. Also, Orla, I heard you had some kind of... dispute with him."

_Goddamnit, enough with these ears on these walls. Why can't people mind their own damn business?_

"Hmm, Irving and I just had a small disagreement on things. But business will proceed and we're going to keep trying to get more information as we can."

Elaine started laughing and gave a coy smile.

"Orla, Orla, Orla, I literally have nothing to do but read and even I don't like to do that much. But when you're bored out of your mind, you're forced to deal with the hands you have."

"Just spit it out Elaine, your weird detective performance is getting a bit annoying."

She started pouting and stuck her tongue at me as I proceeded to mimic her, then she finally continued with the conversation.

"I bet you're wondering where Arabella is."

I widened my eyes and jumped up from the sofa.

"You know where she is?! I-I've been looking for her for almost a month? What the hell! How did you find her before me?"

"I'm not telling."

**_Elaine, I'm gonna punch you._ **

"I will give you information, _IF_ you do something for me in exchange."

"Umm, what do you want?"

Her eyes sparkled with excitement and she jumped up from the sofa.

"I want to go outside!"

"Wait a second! You can't just go outside like that! You might get yourself more sick!"

"But, ORLAAAAAA, I want to go outside! I told you I'm so bored of reading and eavesdropping on servants' conversation! At least you get to go wherever you want!"

"Cause I'm not sick like you!"

The room went quiet and Elaine sat back down. I started to panic realizing what I said.

"I-I'm so sorry! I promise, I wasn't trying to insult you."

"Huh, I thought you finally changed. But it seems that you're still the stubborn, overprotective brother. You never gave me a chance to really explore the town even though this disease isn't even contagious. Why can't I just see the town? I'm so tired of having to hold onto this time bomb and waste my time in this castle. Let me explore the town, please?"

I stared at her puppy dog eyes and was wincing at the bright flowers surrounding her.

I hate playing the bad guy. But according to "The Royal Truth", Elaine tries to get better from the disease with all the magic and science in the world. No one, not even Livius, was apparently able to figure out what was going on. For almost five years, we don't know the source of this disease, but when Elaine was discovered to have this disease, Prince Orla's mother disappeared as well.

In Prince Orla's route, you slightly get to delve into the hardships he had with almost all female family members in his life and how he was taking care of his sister almost his whole life. After Prince Orla's ending, whether good or bad, there was a hint about how the War of Roses will finally end and whether Elaine will ever be cured.

The possibility of her getting more sick is too risky since this isn't a game but it's real life. I don't think we still know what the trigger of the curse was, whether it was overwhelming emotion or physical distress. There was even one scene where she was in extreme agony and that honestly scares me to see happen to her. It was still too early to tell, but I'm a sucker for determined people. If only she didn't remind me of my younger sister in the previous world, this would have been much easier.

"Okay, how about this, you tell me where Arabella is and what she's been doing. If I actually do find her, then we can figure out a way for you to explore the closest and smallest town. Deal?"

"And you have to let me eat any food I want, bring whoever I want with me and let me stay as long as I want!"

"I'll let you stay before the sun goes down at least and only one person other than me or a guard can come with you!"

"Deal!"

We shook our hands firmly and gave a strong nod to each other.

"Now, Elaine, please tell me anything you heard about Arabella."

"Well, Sis has been sneaking out, going to the Blue Candle Forest, and staying there for four days before she came back. I think the last time you met her is when she started to do this. I don't know why she's been doing it, but it's been luckily kept under the radar of Arabella's father quite well."

"Now just please tell me, how do you know all this?"

"Irving."

_Of course. Damnit, I should really resolve the dispute between us, so I could gain more information about this. But again, that goes against my principles. **DAMN, WHY AM I SO STUBBORNNNN?!**_

"Anything else?"

"Well, interesting enough a name did pop up of who was interacting with Arabella. Someone you might know."

"Hmmm, who?"

"You wanna guess?"

I looked at her with a disappointed and deadpan face.

"Okay okay, geez! That person Arabella's been traveling with is Ciar."

I paused and stared at her for a little too long.

"C-Ciar..."

I started to sweat and made a disgustingly wide grin.

"Uhhh, Orla, you're going to get wrinkles like that. Are you okay?"

"It seems that was an information that was much more important than I thought. Thank you."

Elaine smiled and placed her hands on her hips.

"So then can I stay after the dar-"

"NO."

"Come on! I gave you such valuable information! That must count for something!"

"Hmm..."

I suddenly remember the birthday event that Elaine had that allowed her to meet the main heroine...

"Elaine, how about for your next birthday, we can have a special party outdoors rather than at the ballroom as we always have."

"Hmm, maybe? Like a garden party?"

"Yes! And then I'll let you explore the town next door the day before! How does that sound to you?"

"REALLY??! I can't wait! I've been waiting for this for so long! Thank you so much!"

"Remember, this is until we find Arabella and Ciar. I'm just giving us a deadline for now."

"Thank you, Orla."

Elaine quickly gave me a big hug, choking me with her death grip. Then, she suddenly pushed me away really hard, making me almost lose my balance.

"Oh! I almost forgot! For tonight, I'm going to be cooking with the servants! I always wanted to try to practice making some food!"

"Hahaha, I cannot wait."

**_I better get my restroom ready._ **

"Hey, I'm that bad! I'm getting better! I'm even able to make pudding without any help!"

"Whoa, that's actually pretty impressive!"

"Well, I can make it, but it still doesn't taste good."

"You know what, I think I can push my schedule back a little. I'll help out."

"Hold up! It's one thing for the princess to cook, but the upcoming king? No no no, that's going to make the servants look terrible for you to do something like that."

**_Damn this world is so much more gender traditional than I thought._ **

"It's okay. I'll just watch you and the servants then."

"Oh okay, then let's go!"

Elaine grabbed my hand and pulled me along with her. I smiled as I suddenly remembered my little sister doing the same. I felt a familiar and disgustingly warm feeling inside that I haven't felt in a while. I guess I'm a lot more homesick than I thought I was...


	13. Part 13

All these characters have been popping in and out that I almost forget about my main goal of finding Ciar for the information of the King of Visterlia. But again, thanks to Elaine and her Deus Ex Machina ability, she gave me information that can help me find both of them.

Thank the game creators gods for my precious sister... Damnit, I sound like a sis con. EW!

Anyway, now to my next destination. The Blue Candle Forest!

I prepped my gear to get ready for my venture and worked vigorously for a week to get ahead of schedule. Those gruelling work in that hardcore company really helped me shape my focusing skills, but that also meant all that anxiety about the future and enduring all that overwhelming work was pretty pointless...

Anyway, now I have about a whole week to venture into the forest and check on what Ciar and Arabella have been doing.

"Now let's see."

I climbed onto my horse and then I stuck out three fingers, going through a mental checklist.

"So, first, I told Boris that I'm on a business trip, which I trust that he would be really good at spreading the news with that loud mouth of his. Second, I got all my supplies to have to camp in the forest just in case. And what else..."

"WAIT! PRINCE ORLA!"

Livius ran towards me with his horse and a much bigger backpack than I was carrying.

"Uh, Livius, what might bring you to follow me to this journey?"

"I want to join you! Please I know I can be of help to you!"

"Livius, this is a very important trip I must take myself, and I don't know what I would do if I potentially placed you at risk-"

"I know you're lying."

Surprised, I unconsciously start to loosen up my collar.

"I have no idea what you're talking about..."

"Orla, if it was that much of a dangerous mission, you would not be going alone like this. Especially a 'dangerous' business trip without any servants or guards is way too suspicious. If you were to go alone, you never know what rumors would start sprouting about you!"

**_Speak for yourself!_ **

"Is that a threat?"

Livius swallowed hard and started to sweat as I looked down on him as hard as possible.

"Uhh, maybe..."

I gave a heavy sigh and pulled my horse reins towards the forest.

"You really are a pain, Livius."

He beamed and stood behind me. I swung the horse reins and off we were to search for Ciar and Arabella.

After six hours, I found a water stream for the horse to drink out of as we took a rest from walking through this surprisingly rocky forest.

I threw my arms up in the air and screamed, "WHERE ARE THEY?!"

"Sorry for the long journey, Orla. I know that it is quite near my home, but it seems to be a much more difficult terrain using this path than I thought. How did Arabella handle all this terrain for four days?"

"Livius, no offense, but don't you have some kind of magic that could help us find a shortcut or something?"

"Hmm, the Blue Candle Forest... It's known for having a spirit guide in the form of a blue light, but just like a candle if it is relied on for too long, it loses its structure melting into one with the darkness."

"Wow, that's pretty poetic. But, will that myth help us find our way to the forest?"

"Maybe? Let me try something."

Livius brought out a white candle from his bag and a white chalk. He drew a small magic circle filled with a language that I only remembered from our Spell Casting tutoring days.

"Uhh, Livius, is that the "Lost" spell? But you can only use that on objects as small as that circle. Shouldn't it be better to draw something bigger for at least one person."

"It would take too long to use it for a person. Humans are too complex of a being to search for, but perhaps, we can search for an energy source of some kind."

Energy sources are simpler than humans. That's the first time I heard something like that.

"Humans are unique, yet too similar in their biological functions. So, even if I specified a person's identity, it would still not be enough to find that one specific person, especially in such a short span of time. If we want to save daylight, we should search for something so special only found around this area, capture it and let it guide us."

"Huh, whoa, magic is pretty cool."

"It is."

After about one hour of incantation, a small blue light flickered onto the white candle. The fire flew up and started to fly towards a rocky looking canyon.

"Yeah, umm, that's not a really nice looking canyon. Are you sure that spirit knows what it's doing?"

"Well, if my knowledge of magic is wrong, then I better banish my title."

"You definitely got this."

"I know."

Packing up all our supplies, we continued our way to follow the blue spirit. The trees were covering the sky leaving only a spot-like pattern of lights shining through, but below the rocks were dusty red rock that made it difficult for travelers to walk. How this was ecologically possible is beyond me. Maybe the creators wanted to make a cool looking world but basically threw the world building up to magic? I have no idea.

After having a stupidly specific tangent of background details, I noticed how the path was starting to become flatter and easier to walk through. The trees started to become more cluttered but the land became more flatter. This definitely looked like a good place for someone to hide away.

The blue spirit started to flicker and dim down as the sunlight started to turn into a sunset orange. When we pulled our horses to a still at the same time, the blue spirit dissipated in the trees' shadows.

I looked up to the sky and couldn't tell if the sky finally became night or if the tree was preventing any of the sunlight to shine through. I was starting to get a bad feeling about this.

"Livius, take my back. Make sure to signal me if you feel as though someone is here."

"Got it."

The wind was quiet, but something was wrong. It was as if we weren't breathing the same atmosphere. It was as if we weren't in the same world.

Suddenly, a branch broke to my right.

I turned my horse away from the noise and positioned my sword towards the noise.

"Whoever you are, place down your weapons if you do not wish to place yourself in a duel."

Silence.

"In the name of the Alethenil Kingdom, show yourself!"

A small family of purple winged squirrels came out of the bush across from me.

"Aww, that's so cute."

When Livius heard my voice, his eyes widened as he saw the squirrels starting to position themselves.

"ORLA, WATCH OUT!"

The winged squirrels flashed their fangs at me and flew towards my direction. While I was able to cover myself with my sword, I was able to swing at a few squirrels before one of them found an opening. Preparing for impact, I closed my eyes and covered myself with my forearm.

I didn't feel anything.

I slowly opened my eyes to find an armored knight swinging against the winged squirrels in one swoop. As some of them smacked against the trees, the others grabbed their fellow members and flew away from the area. The knight slowly slides his sword back into his silver sheathe with an emblem of a golden lion.

His dark brown hair gently swung along with the breeze of the wind and his bluish grey eyes had a twinkle of sadness that made him look so magnetic. The wind pulled the tree's branches to reveal the full moonlight, letting Livius and me see clearly who this man was. I knew who it was as soon as beautifully smooth tanned skin reflected under the moonlight's blue shower.

It was him. I finally found him. And I fell in love with him all over again.

"Ciar..."


	14. Part 14

I continued to stare at one of my favorite characters standing in front of me. As if I was playing "The Royal Truth" for the first time, again, I found myself falling in love with Ciar again.

Shaken by this revelation, I couldn't move and continued to look down at him from my horse. Livius started dry coughing to break the atmosphere and spoke up first.

"So, you're Ciar."

With a tone of sarcasm, he continued, "Thank you SO much for coming to our rescue. While I would reward you, we don't have much time right now."

Ciar with a deadpan expression stared back at Livius and suddenly turned around from the bush he jumped out of.

"HEY! I'm not done talking to you! Do you know who you're dealing with? I don't think you do-"

I lifted my left hand and Livius went silent.

"Livius, you're right. We don't have time, but Ciar is the only one who knows where Arabella is right now. So, let's just follow him please."

"Wait, are you sure we should just follow him? What if it's a trap?"

"Don't worry, Livius. It definitely is not a trap. He would never..."

Livius slightly lowered his head like a child in a tantrum and rein his horse towards Ciar's path. I heard a small smack behind me. I turned to notice that Livius' cheeks had bright red handprints on them, but I decided to pretend it didn't happen.

Walking through the forest, we finally found another vast open land with no tree above us. A small cottage home stood at the center of the land and suspiciously looked occupied.

"Huh, quite cozy."

Ciar stopped in his path and looked back at me, causing me to slightly fluster.

He pointed at the cottage and said in a deep husky voice, "You'll find her there."

Still warm, I awkwardly forced my body to shift the horse towards the cottage and tried not to show Ciar how weird I looked.

Livius noticed my red face and started pouting all the way to the cottage.

When we jumped off our horse and unhooked our supplies, Ciar took the rein and led our horses to another small farm building. We both looked back at the horses and looked back at each other.

"This turned out really well to be honest."

Livius, still pouting, turned his nose in the air and looked away from me. Leaving me in silence, he stomped into the cottage house.

"Huh, did I do something wrong again?"

I followed Livius into the cozy home and found myself hit with an air of fresh pine leaves lingered in between the scent of warm meat stew.

Again, the wave of nostalgia hit me and I myself almost tore up from this feeling of comfort. Even when I wasn't exactly from the countryside, it was this warmth of home that I've been missing for so long. Something I seemed to have missed more than I thought. I breathed in and gave a large smile to hide my slight pain.

"WOW, THAT IS SOME AMAZING SMELLING STEW!" I shouted as loud as I could across the house.

Livius slightly jumped up and angrily glared at me, before turning back around in his pout.

"Sorry about that."

The cottage had a small living room with the dining table and two chairs from the left of the door. The fireplace at the back wall of the house had a medium sized black cauldron above it that was slightly leaking of boiled stew. A red oak door stood next to the right of the fireplace.

When I walked closer to open the black cauldron, the oak door aggressively opened at the same time.

Staring at the suspect of the door slamming, I found myself eye to eye staring back at the beautiful black eyes that I missed so much. Without a second thought, I pulled her into my arms and dared not to make any more movement.

She reciprocated the hug and started gently patting my head. Like a mother reuniting with her lost son, we continued to stay this way for a few more minutes in silence. As I slowly pulled myself away and stared at her gentle smile, Livius walked up and gave her a short but tight hug.

Livius and I sat next to each other as Ciar brought two more chairs in from the other room. He placed the chairs on the other side and sat across from me. Getting warm again, I felt myself stupidly smiling as I stared at Ciar help set the table up. Livius noticing my dazed expression, he went back into his pout like a child trying to get attention.

Livius' technique worked and I turned to ask him a question.

"So, Livius, how did you hear about this trip?"

"Well, obviously, I heard it from Boris."

"But, how did you know about Ciar?"

"Uhh, didn't Boris talk about how you were to meet up with Ciar?"

"Livius, that's clearly too much information for me to tell Boris. Now, come on, what really made you come with me to this trip."

Trying to shift himself in a comfortable position, Livius started to fiddle with his fingers again.

"I actually heard it from Elaine in our weekly checkup. But she didn't tell me anything else! Just how you were going to search for Ciar and Arabella! I don't know about anything else!"

"I know you're telling the truth, but when you overcompensate like that, it makes you really suspicious."

"S-sorry."

"Haha, it's okay. You just need to be more confident about your answer. Anyway, I guess you don't know who Ciar is, do you?"

Arabella smacked the spoon against the cauldron and shouted, "Dinner is ready!"

Ciar carried all four bowls of soup with two on each arm to the dining table and gently laid it out. His rolled up sleeve revealed an incredibly muscular arm, looking as tough as a tree's trunk. It was almost unbearable to not be able to touch it.

Wiping the drool away from the image of Ciar's beautiful arm muscle and the smell of meat stew, I smacked my hands together. We all thanked each other for the meal and dived into the warm meal.

Each bite I took my eyes kept wanting to swell up with tears but I choked it back to be able to savor the taste of the delicious meal.

Ahh, I really miss home. I wonder what everyone back home is doing... It must have been hard for them to just see me disappear like that. Maybe, I should have called more when I had the chance, but I was just too tired from my work. I really should have fulfilled all my promises of meeting my best friends. I guess I didn't want to think about them too much or have them worry about me. Maybe, I was even scared of getting my frustration out to them... I hope they're not crying too hard over me.

A single tear was able to spill out. It was too late. I couldn't hold back anymore. The tears started to flow out of my eyes, but I still kept eating. I didn't care about who was looking at me and just kept crying.

Even with my blurry vision, I could see that Arabella and Ciar were silently smiling to themselves as though they understood how I felt. Livius tried to hide his tears as if he didn't want me to worry for him. He tried to shove large spoonfuls of stew into his mouth to stop thinking about crying, but it only made me look goofy as he formed chipmunk's cheeks.

It was quite a warm dinner and it felt as though I was back home with my family again. I wish I could stay like this forever, but now I have a new family that I have to protect. Maybe, all the regrets I held for my previous life, I can use this as a chance to become a bit more for them. I guess this is almost a new chance for me. A new chance to live a happy life...


	15. Part 15 (End of Chapter 4)

After the dinner and crying show, Livius and I prepared ourselves with a line of questions to shoot at Ciar and Arabella.

First, me.

"So, Ciar, what's your relationship with Arabella?"

Arabella slammed the table, causing everyone to slightly jump in fear.

"Oi, oi, oi, do you think you have the right to ask things like that, ORLA? HMMM?"

Shaking like a newborn fawn, I dropped my head in shame. Livius suddenly placed his hand over my shoulder and gave me a thumbs up. I nodded and gave him a thumbs up back. I straightened my posture with determination and we continued our line of questioning.

Livius went next.

"Then, Ciar, what's your relationship with Orla?"

Arabella smacked Livius in the back of his head.

"OW! What was that for?! That was an actual question!"

"Sorry, Livius, I'm so used to people saying a lot of stupid things around me."

"Jeez, I'll get you for that one day."

"Try me."

Arabella angrily looked down at Livius, causing him to physically shrink into his chair. I suddenly burst out laughing as I saw the siblings have their fight. Arabella glared at me and crossed her arms.

"What's wrong?"

"Arabella, it's been so long, since I saw this side of you. I actually kind of miss it."

Her face turned bright red, just like brother and sister, she started to pout from hearing my words.

"Well, I guess it's because I'm kind of feeling a bit better now. And it's been a while since I saw Livius and you, so I guess I'm a lot more comfortable than last time."

"I'm just glad I get to see you again."

She looked up at me, then with a toothy grin said, "I'm really happy I got to see you too, Orla."

"Oh, yeah, Livius, have you ever met Ciar?"

Livius glared at Ciar and tried to scan his appearance. Ciar becoming slightly embarrassed from the aggressive stare, decided to speak up.

"Hello my name is Ciar-"

Fanboy Orla did a cartwheel into the spotlight and gave a little peace sign.

"Ciar is a second in command among the army of Alethenil, who used to tutor Prince Orla in sword fights. The only problem is that he does not appear in the game for a while because he is a key player in the War of the Roses progression.

Due to his amazing swordsmanship, he is almost impossible to defeat in the field. He is so strong that he even can deflect magic if he is fast enough to dodge or swing at attacks. But, among the characters, he doesn't have a single ounce of magic nor much academic background. With that, if you're able to stay neutral with the other characters and focus on helping out with the sword practice field, occasionally you will bump into him at the field.

He is seen as quite cold and aloof at first, but you slowly discover that he is a gentle giant who gets embarrassed easily when it comes to cute things. Sometimes has a scary and protective side, but will do anything to protect that one he loves. _Andddddd_

**_He is such a DADDY!_ **

With such ripping abs like that, I could grill a whole barbecue party on it.

Anyway, I've been meaning to see him so badly, but I never really had a reason to, since I was too busy with other things and it is extremely difficult to find the right time to find him. The game would randomize on when he would appear and the player would have to play the waiting game for him to appear to you. While for other routes, the characters tend to be at the same place and can be easily found around there, Ciar would have to be seek for. But, now there he is! My sexy knight in shining armor!

Wait, Ciar stopped talking and now everyone is staring at me! Hurry and say something, stupid Orla!"

Arabella was waving her hand across my face and saying, "Hello, Orla. Where are you?"

I immediately jumped up from my chair, causing them to flinch back a little.

"DO YOU HAVE A RESTROOM HERE?"

Arabella looked back at Ciar and turned back to me.

She finally spoke and pointed to the front door.

"We have the forest."

Both Livius and I opened our mouth in shock at the same time.

"YOU'VE BEEN DOING IT IN THE FOREST?"

"Yeah, at first, it was kind of disgusting, but you kind of forget about it once you become really desperate."

_I'll take my chances._

After I sat back down in defeat, Livius said, "Wait a second, what are you guys even doing here?"

"OH RIGHT! Arabella, Ciar, please tell me what you guys have been doing in the middle of this forest!"

Ciar rubbed the back of his neck as I took a drink of water.

"We just decided to go somewhere more private and comfortable for Arabella-"

I spit the water across the table all over Ciar. Even with his gentle eyes, he looked like he was about to explode, but he just stood there with his mouth hanging open.

"I-I'M SO SORRY!"

I started to aggressively wipe Ciar's face with a rag nearby and black smudges were painted across his face.

**_I want to scream._ **

Before, I continued to make the situation worse, Ciar grabbed my hand and pulled me close to his face. I could feel his breath on my cheek, but my face has become too red for me to really feel anything at that point.

He turned to me and mumbled into my ears, "Sorry, you were about to smack the water cup over and I wanted to stop you before you dirtied your clothes."

Ciar slowly let go of my hand and we separately gently back into our chairs.

While I was trying to gain my composure again, Livius and Arabella both looked like they were about to explode with anger. Livius was pulling on his hair and slightly foaming to his mouth, while Arabella was punching her leg while biting on her nail.

Arabella gave a dry cough and stared angrily at the confused Ciar.

"What Ciar MEANT was that I wanted a more private area for myself to practice my swordsmanship and also wanted a comfortable or isolated area where I could recover myself mentally. After our last talk-"

Arabella suddenly glared at me, sending shivers down my spine.

"I needed some time for myself."

Livius pointed at her and said, "Wait, when were you into sword fighting?"

She pompously crossed her arm and leaned back into her chair.

"I always was talented in it, little brother."

"What when-"

"Well, while you were busy researching horse carriages and crying about your inaptitude."

**_OUCH_ **

"I was always pretty good at it ever since we were little. After our academic years, Father thought that it was impossible for a woman to properly run his family and just made me focus on my future marriage. I got bored since Father never gave me any real assignments, so I would have most of my time to practice with Ciar at night and study for myself.

After that night, I decided that I really needed to work out for a few days in a row. Obviously if I was gone for that whole month, then Father would call the army for me. That's why I would come back for two days and let the servants and guards see me a little. So, yeah, I've been doing this for the whole month and also did some gardening here and there."

Livius and I sat there in silence for a few minutes. Then I started clapping and stood up from my chair. Livius, trying to fight his pride, followed my lead and Ciar followed, still confused. She started to motion a small bow in response to our clap, signaling to us to sit back down.

I smiled and shook my head, "Arabella, you really are amazing."

"I know."

_Ahh, you guys really are siblings._

Livius then started shouting in realization of something.

"WAIT! Orla, what did you guys talk about that night? Why does she keep bringing it up?"

"Uhhh, we just had a private conversation. You guys don't need to know."

_I could still feel Arabella's murderous aura piercing me. **RIP ME.**_

Livius pouted and looked back at Arabella.

"Fine. But, please stop disappearing like this. I trust you know what you're doing, but it's not a nice feeling knowing that your sister has been just gone randomly..."

Arabella smacked her hand onto Livius' head and gave him forceful head rub, causing him to shout at her to stop.

As the Israne siblings were in their own world, I looked back at Ciar as he was dipping a cloth in his water cup to wipe out the rest of the black smudges.

"Sorry about that again."

"It's okay, Prince Orla. My duty as a knight will continue to protect you at all cost."

"Thank you. But, Ciar, how'd you meet Arabella?"

"In honesty sir, Arabella found me. I was just doing my usual practice at the exercise field and she was standing there to watch me. Then, she pointed out how to position myself to fight against range magic better. A young duchess such as her, telling me, a knight of second in command. It was a very hilarious scenario, but surprisingly she was right. Because I lacked any magic, I never really thought about learning different positions against specific magical attacks. It was kind of eye opening to notice how even when I won many battles, something as simple as a narrow mindness could have become a matter of life and death. That's why to repay her for her generous advice, I decided to accept teaching her."

_I think I fell in love with Ciar even more._

"So, you do know the current state of the Visterlia Empire."

"Yes, the only reason why I even had this much time to teach her is due to the changes in the army's position. I was even quite surprised to even hear the tacticians decided to retract their troops from the front line. We had to make so much progress that I was afraid that they wanted to invade their line and cause a major war to break out. But I guess someone was very adamant of retreating until further notice."

Ciar gave a gentle smile at me as his eye quietly squinted. My heart started pounding faster.

I wasn't used to Ciar talking this much to me that it made me blush even more. Was he always this talkative or was it just because I was the prince? Either way, the fact that he's this comfortable talking to me, makes me so happy.

"Well, I bet that person is very much happy to hear about your praise."

"I hope they hear it. If we had to lose any more people, I wouldn't know what to do with myself."

"Being in the position of high power isn't easy. I would understand."

Having so many people rely on you for such an important task, was something I had to deal with my whole life from family to work. But to be thrown in this prince's body made me realize how real that power is. At first, it was a lot of fun, but the more I try to help people, the more I feel like I'm just choosing all the wrong decisions. It feels like a nightmare where you're forced to take one of those train morale decision tests, except that nightmare is a reality.

"I hope I didn't bring down the mood. I have been told that I'm not quite fun to be with."

"NO! I-I mean, that's not it. I just realized how difficult the situation is for everyone... But, Ciar, I need to ask you something that only you can do."

"Of course, your majesty."

"Please tell me anything you know about the current King of Visterlia."

**Author's Note:**

> Hope you enjoy my work so far! I post on Wattpad as well under the same name, if you want to continue the read!
> 
> Also, please comment and tell me what you think so far! Always appreciate seeing what people think of my work!


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